Toronto Mayor John Tory is urging Ontario’s government to reverse what he calls “unilateral, retroactive” cuts to child-care funding, which he says will hurt families and strain the province’s labour market.
Tory has sent a letter to each of the 11 Progressive Conservative MPPs who represent ridings in his city, asking them to request that Education Minister Lisa Thompson reverse the changes.
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He says the cuts will result in a nearly $85-million reduction to the city’s child-care budget and the cancellation of 6,166 subsidies for families who can’t afford child care on their own.
The province told child-care centres in mid-April it would be shutting down a fund that helped operators cover increasing labour costs without passing on those costs to parents.
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A memo from the government told operators that funding ended as of March 31, and any money that flowed to operators after that date would be “recovered.”
In a news release Saturday, Tory says the province’s move will force more new parents to stay home, putting strain on the social safety net and the labour market.
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